Unexpected Guests - Chapter 9 - Throwing Stones in Glass Houses

“Is this what a greenhouse is supposed to look like?” I asked suspiciously as I wandered out of the rest room.

“A complete one to one replication of a jungle? Well, at least the Jungles before the Antithesis got to them,” Deadbeat replied. “No, I’m pretty sure most gardens don’t look like this.”

“Just checking,” I muttered. 

The so-called greenhouse was gigantic. There was a glass roof above, but it was so high that the titanic, skyscraper sized trees didn't even come close to touching it. Unlike the previous two floors it would be fairly easy for us to leave the path, there were some fairly massive gaps between the trees. That being said, the huge bright orange and red flora dripping liquid, and which appeared to be turning to track my movements, gave me pause.

“Charming place,” I grumbled. “I really wish we had some idea of what we might be facing here, so we could prepare.”

“Even if they told us, it’s not like that would help us. If I’d been handed a list that said Centaurs, ghost archers, skeletons with weapons, and a headless man before the last floor, I don’t think it would have helped me,” Bandit sniffed.

“Fair,” I replied.

Once I finished surveying the area, I gestured for Heavy to proceed.

The ‘jungle’ was full of life. Small mammals, birds and even predators stalked under the trees. I realized after the third, or fourth time that I stopped to stare into the undergrowth that this was probably intended. The small sounds and disturbances created distractions which the locals could take advantage of. 

“Bandit, can you filter out the ambient noise?” I asked quietly.

“Easily,” the fox replied. 

“Then swap weapons with Deadbeat,” I told him. “I have a feeling that something is going to try and creep up on us, and I’d really like to teach them why that’s a bad idea.”

“You got it!” the fox grinned. I didn’t turn to watch, but I could hear the pair performing the trade behind me. 

After a hundred or so meters the path opened up into a small clearing. There was a small, two meter wide, creak running right through the middle.

Even though the area was clear, and there was a heavy wooden bridge which would allow us to easily cross the creek, I had everyone stop. A completely unique area, which was wide enough to fight in, without any enemies? Yeah, I didn’t trust it.

“Bandit?” I hissed.

“There’s definitely something moving out there, boss. Quiet, slippery fucker too,” the fox informed me. “They’re too far out for me to take a shot.”

“Just the one?”

“No, two. One on each side,” he replied.

“When they come, call out the first so we can take defensive positions and take out the second,” I instructed. 

“Got it.”

Tapping Heavy on the shoulder we slowly entered the clearing. I alternated between scanning the jungle to our sides, and the creek ahead of us. I didn’t know why, but it unsettled me.

It was only after we were about half way across the clearing that I realized I couldn’t see the bottom of the ‘shallow’ stream. I could, however, make out shadows moving under the water with the help of my optics. 

“Shit, they’re under the…” I started, before being interrupted by Bandit.

“Ten o’Clock, up in the trees!” 

As the team turned, everyone scanning the area I slipped behind Heavy. When a handful of darts thudded into the ground right where I’d been standing, I immediately zeroed in on the source. It appeared to be a thin frog man with blue and red skin, hanging off one of the lowest branches of the nearest tree, partially hidden by the foliage. 

While the two of us had an impromptu staring contest, a meaty thunk echoed out from behind us. 

“Bob, introduce our friend to gravity,” I growled. 

“With pleasure,” the big bear grunted, cracking his knuckles. He didn’t bother drawing his sword, instead choosing to just lower his shoulder and charging straight across the clearing. The frog watched, unimpressed. It probably didn’t think Bob would be able to shake it free from its perch. It should have been more cautious.

Bob didn’t hit the tree and bounce off, he smashed into it hard enough to splinter the trunk at the point of impact. The frog scrambled, grabbing for whatever it could get a hold of as the entire tree was shoved a couple inches from its previous position, before slowly toppling towards the jungle floor.

The frogman made a panicked leap, abandoning its rapidly collapsing hiding place. It hit the ground hard, rolling through the foliage as it scrambled to regain its footing. Just as it seemed to recover, a crossbow bolt caught it right in the side of the head.

“That was easy,” Bandit chucked.

“This isn’t over,” I shouted, turning towards the creek.

As soon as the second frog died, over a dozen fighters burst into the clearing. It was like we’d kicked a hornet’s nest. Literally. 

Flying around us, in a loose circle were a group of what I could only describe as wasp women. They were wearing thin metal armor over their yellow and black carapaces, multiple weapons were held in their four hands, and their rapidly beating wings created what would have been an unbearably loud buzz if I hadn’t been wearing my helmet.

They weren’t the only ones that had moved to engage us. Two massive frogs had pulled themselves out of the creek. Although they had similar coloring to the tree climbing ambusher, these two were huge. They towered over everyone, even Bob, and carried massive shark toothed clubs in their heavily muscled hands.

“You go no further,” one of the bee women declared. She was wearing much more ornate armor, and she had a wicked looking serrated blade at her waist. 

“Says who?” I muttered, locking eyes with the woman.

“I heard how you defeated Sullivan in a duel, and between the Pekeketua and my Anthophilan warriors, I will stop you here,” the woman replied.

“Bee-ing able to fly is kind of cheating isn’t it,” I asked with a smirk.

She didn’t crack a smile at my pun, instead her eyes narrowed slightly. “It is not our fault you didn’t prepare for a flying enemy, we will show you no quarter.”

“Oh, if that’s the case, I only have one thing to say,” I replied in a bright, unbothered tone. “Weapons loose.”

I dropped my axe, grabbed my rifle, and sighted one of the flying warriors before it even hit the ground. All it took was a quick three round burst and the woman exploded, dissolving into a burst of light. My team wasn’t quite as fast as I was, but they added their firepower to mine by the time I finished the second warrior. 

“What is this?” the leader shouted, on the edge of panic. 

“Oh, you mean this?” I asked, as I stopped firing, held up my rifle in front of me and turned to face her. If we’d been stuck in a melee I might have continued fighting, worried about our odds, but a firefight? I had no doubt that my team could win that any day of the week. 

“This is an LCARS,” I explained. “Fuck if I can remember what it stands for, but it fires a self guiding explosive projectile capable of punching through several inches of armor at several hundred meters.”

The leader snarled, drew the wicked looking serrated blade at her belt, and tilted forward preparing to dive down on my location. “Witchcraft!”

A quick burst fired from the hip quickly put an end to her last heroic stand. Unlike the others, she survived and plummeted to the ground. Even though her wings were broken by the explosives, and she was bleeding heavily, she still attempted to stand.

“Not going to lie, as far as I’m concerned this COULD be witchcraft, I sure as shit don’t understand how it works. That’s Nyx’s territory,” I said as I slowly approached the injured woman. “You know what I do know?”

“What?” she spat.

“I really hate fliers,” I replied unloading another burst into her, this time at nearly point blank. She didn’t get up from that one. 

I turned back towards the creek just in time to catch the end of Bob’s duel with the frogs. The pair must have thought they had the upper hand at first, they were strong and they outnumbered the bear, but they quickly learned how little that mattered. Bob literally just shrugged off their blows. Since they were concentrating on attacking, the big bear simply walked forward and impaled the first on his great sword. After seeing this the second attempted to parry his backhand block, only to find its club shattering under the force of the blow. When the sword came back around, it didn’t have anything to block with.

“That wasn’t so bad,” I declared. “I was starting to worry we’d take a couple casualties during all these skirmishes, but things haven’t been that bad so far.”

Just as I said that I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned just in time to see a thick vine tighten on Deadbeat’s ankle.

“Boss, help!” she cried as she was yanked across the clearing incredibly quickly. Before I could even react she was yanked across the clearing and into the creek. 

I snatched my axe and sprinted over to the river’s edge, but try as I might, I couldn’t spot her.

Spooky sighed. “You just had to say something, didn’t you.”